Who Wears Plain Ol' Red?

When Emma O’Keefe saw that purple leopard-print backpack, it was all over.  Up until she caught sight of it on the back of the catalogue, we thought we knew what we were doing, .  I was going to, that very day, order her a backpack, one that she had chosen,  from a different store.   This first choice had been red, and nothing else had mattered. Emma knew what she wanted; she wanted to carry a bright red backpack to school every day.  That was that, or it was until Emma got a look at that purple leopard-printed wonder.    The red backpack  was gone.  Red was history.  It could just have not existed as far as Emma was concerned. I know that I’d shown her this very thing on the company’s web-site earlier that week when it was still on sale.  On paper, it looked more spotted, shiny and purple.  How could anything compete with that?


On Friday, Emma swung the new backpack on to her back and walked off into the waining days of Blue Group ( Pre-K).  It looked good on her; she looked excited to show her old friends her pride and joy and she looked confident. 

 Emma starts at her new school in three weeks ( really?!?).  She’s ready, she’s excited, and she needs clothes.  I feel a  shopping spree coming on, but I do have an excuse.  One   pleasure of having a young daughter is that she outgrows her clothes.  Every year, opens afresh, and Emma has to look good.  The first step means throwing open the closet and seeing what still fits.   Pants, shirts, those are dull; they just fit or don’t fit.  Yes or no, put them in piles.  For dresses, I have developed a system and a standard.  Emma puts on the dress and puts her arms over her head,  and I ask myself what I’m seeing.  Is it a dress, or has it become a top?  On Saturday, I declared my favorite dress from last year to be, “a lovely tunic”.  Boys outgrown clothing offers no such option; flood pants are always flood pants.

Girls clothes are equal parts fun and danger.  Kids’ clothing stores lay them out for you,  all coordinated perfectly.   There they are, ready to be moved straight into a little girl’s closet.  Here comes the problem with that;  it fits together, so patrons don’t ask themselves what age of girl is supposed to be wearing it.  That white cable twin set and black watch kilt looks cute; but how clean will it stay and how itchy is it?  That cute little jacket that matches the pants so well, a five-year-old would be out of that in a minute.   Save the pulled together ensembles for girls who want to pick out a nice outfit for themselves.   And when you’re ten,  how much fun is it to wear the same dress as five-year-old?

I’m having more trouble finding one simple thing than I’d thought I would.   It’s a red shirt.  I want a plain red shirt, because Emma likes red, because she has red tights and a bunch of skirts and pants that could use a crimson top, and because it has become my mission to find one.   I forgot one cold, hard fact ; girls don’t wear red.   I’m not kidding, they don’t; just ask the people who make children’s clothes.  They wear all shades of pink and purple, and sometimes blue, yellow or green.  They like spots and stripes as well as flowers, animals and “Hello Kitty”.  Don’t forget the sparkles; gotta have the sparkles..  Emma can’t resist any of these things, trust me, but red is still her favorite color. 

I’ve tried shopping among the racks and stacks of boy clothes, but I found but few unadorned red shirts for young boys.  Sports,  monsters, Star Wars and superheroes they’ve got; the tried and true.   Anime and Japanese letters are popular too,  and they offer a little cache for the older ones .  There are still polo shirts and ones with rugby-stripes, popular with grandmothers because they do “ look a little nicer”. Finding a simple red shirt is not as simple as I’d hoped.

I think I’ll need to hit the stores before school starts.  Or I’ll wait, maybe red shirts are a mid-season thing.